1. Field of the Inventions
The present invention relates to a disposable protective container for a hypodermic syringe which protects against inadvertent contact with the needle of the hypodermic syringe before and after it has been used and more particularly to a disposable container for a hypodermic syringe which may be flexed to break the needle of the hypodermic syringe therein so that there is no longer any reason for an individual to attempt to retrieve the hypodermic syringe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of hypodermic syringe has always posed a certain degree of risk to health care professionals, chiefly doctors and nurses. Inadvertent contact with the sharp needle point by some part of the body of a person administering an injection can cause an unwanted injection of a drug contained in the hypodermic syringe. However, since the amount of the fluid which can be inadvertently injected is usually quite small, such accidental injections do not usually pose a serious health hazard.
A much greater hazard to a user of a hypodermic syringe is the potential contact with a needle that has been used to administer an injection or draw blood from a patient afflicted with a contagious disease. Accidental inoculation with a needle which has been used transcutaneously on a patient can result in the health care professional contracting a serious disease such as hepatitis.
Concern about the problem of accidental inoculation by a contaminated needle of a hypodermic syringe has increased along with the population growth and increased level of health care usage of procedures involving hypodermic syringes. This concern has increased dramatically in the recent past with the proliferation of individuals carrying the AIDS virus. Bearing in mind that there is presently no known cure for this debilitating and deadly disease which has a 100 percent mortality rate the high level of concern is well justified.
For the reasons stated above, there is a keen awareness among health care professionals of the necessity of taking substantial precautionary measures to avoid contacting the contaminated needle of a hypodermic syringe. Also there is an awareness of the risk of using a hypodermic syringe which has been previously used or tampered with. These two concerns have prompted the development of a number of prior art devices intended to minimize the possibility of contacting a contaminated needle, or using a previously used or contaminated hypodermic syringe.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,322, entitled Syringe Package issued to Robert W. Ogle on Sep. 13, 1966, teaches a tamper indicating syringe package which includes a cylindrical member and a needle sheath for covering a needle of a syringe. The needle sheath is spot-welded to the cylindrical member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,622, entitled Tamper-Resistant Rigid Syringe Package and Method of Making Same, issued to Edward F. Windischman on Aug. 15, 1978, teaches a syringe package which includes a plastic cylindrical container sleeve which is closed at one end and open at the opposite end and which receives a sterile syringe. The sleeve has an enlarged end portion at the open end which is connected by a tapered portion to the main body portions of the sleeve. A rigid plastic end closure is positioned over the enlarged end portion of the sleeve and an end portion of the closure is heat-formed around the tapered portion of the sleeve so that the formed end of the cap has a smaller diameter than the enlarged portion of the sleeve. The heat-formed end portion of the closure may be provided with stress relief in the end portion. U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,775 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,570 also teach packaged syringe in which closure members are either fused or otherwise spot-welded to other member of the package and which are broken when the packaged syringe are opened.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,287, entitled Syringe with Retractable Cannula, issued to Irene Haller on May 31, 1977, teaches a syringe in which the cannula or needle may be withdrawn inside a protective barrel after use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,652, entitled Packaged Syringe Construction, issued to Thomas Thackston on Jun. 28, 1974, teaches a syringe package which includes a syringe with a needle and a hollow plunger rod and a sheath. The hollow plunger rod and the sheath concentrically cover the needle before the syringe has been used. The sheath covers the needle after the syringe has been used. The sheath is flexible in order to permit flexure to break the needle so that the syringe is rendered useless.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,428, entitled Cover for a Disposable Syringe, issued to Cwo-Liang Cuu on Jan. 6, 1987, teaches a disposable syringe with a needle and a cover which covers the needle after use. The cover is flexible in order to permit flexure thereby bending and breaking the needle while still retaining the broken needle therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,274, entitled Protected Hypodermic Needle, issued to Richard L. Fox on Sep. 22, 1987, teaches a safety needle attachment for a syringe body assembly which makes use of a needle holder With a needle fixed in the holder and the holder so constructed that it can, if necessary, be applied to and removed from the syringe body assembly at will. The needle is initially entirely surrounded by a protecting jacket which is releasably interlocked with the holder. When the needle is to be used, the interlock is released and the jacket in effect telescoped over the holder to project the needle through a membrane over the end of the jacket to a working position. After use the jacket is returned to its protecting position and there interlocked in place. Thereafter for those occasions where the attachment is removable from the body assembly, it can be removed for disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,057, entitled Shielded Needle, issued to Charles B. Mitchell on Dec. 23, 1986, teaches an apparatus for injecting a substance into a human or animal which includes a body, a needle coupled to the body and terminating in a point and a needle guard mounted on the body for movement from a retracted position in which the guard does not shield the needle to an extended position in which the guard shields the needle. The needle guard can be releasably retained in the retracted position and locked in the extended position. Locking of the needle guard is accomplished by interlocking members carried by the needle guard and by a collar mounted on the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,330, entitled Hypodermic Syringe Needle Guard, issued to Robert Nelson and Robert Flome on Apr. 21, 1987, teaches a guard for the needle of a hypodermic syringe which keeps the extremities and particularly the hands well away from the hypodermic syringe to prevent accidental punctures with contaminated needles. The needle guard is in the form of a cylindrical cap which slides over the needle having a manipulating device to remove and replace the guard while keeping the hands well away from the needle. The manipulating device is in the form of a flexible handle having a resilient clamping flanges which clamp the device around the barrel of the syringe. The extension has a webbed hinge allowing it to easily flex outward away from the syringe needle for removal or replacement of the end cap. Alternately the end cap may be hingedly attached to a collar slidable on the syringe barrel by which the cap can be slided downward to remove the cap and retracted to replace the cap. The needle guard may also be in the form of a second cylinder forming a slidably mounted sleeve on the syringe barrel to cover the needle when extended or expose the needle when retracted.